Transfer mechanisms for cigarette machinery



1967 G. DEARSLEY TRANSFER MECHANISMS FOR CIGARETTE MACHINERY Filed Jan.20, 1966 INVENTOR.

GEORGE DEARSLEY United States Patent 3,305,128 TRANSFER MECHANISMS FORCIGARETTE MACHINERY George Dearsley, Richmond, Va., assignor to AmericanMachine & Foundry Company, a corporation of New Jerse y Filed Jan. 20,1966, Ser. No. 521,776

12 Claims. (Cl. 2219) The present invention relates to the manufactureof cigarettes and is particularly directed to apparatus in the nature ofa reservoir for the storage and delivery of cigarette or filter tip rodsin such machines.

The present invention was conceived with direct application to thefeeding of filter rods in a filter tip attachment mechanism, i.e., amechanism for joining the tip and cigarette, and while the followingdescription is so directed, it should be appreciated that it is equallyapplicable to the delivery of cigarettes and its uses can be effected inother cigarette or cigar manufacturing mechanisms such as packagingmachines.

The prior art form of cigarette filter tip attachment is shown in my US.Patent 3,036,581 issued May 29, 1962. In that patent there is also showna particular reservoir combining delivery and storage means. Thisreservoir of this patent is required to be manually filled with filtertip rods and, therefore, necessitates periodic attention from theoperator of the machine.

The cigarette manufacturing industry is presently developing automatedmachinery interconnecting cigarette making'units and packaging machines,and filter rod making or supply units to filter tip attachment units,such as that shown in the heretofore mentioned patent. Morespecifically, the art is leading to the production of high speedpneumatic coupling and transfer systems in which both cigarette andfilter rods are transported over long distances, without manualhandling, but with interrelated and interlocked operation and timing.Such coupling systems are shown in my copending application, Serial No.574,882 filed August 4, 1966 based upon my pending application in GreatBritain, No. 34,341/ 65, filed August 11, 1965 and in US. Patent3,222,110 issued to Kelly et al., December 7, 1965.

Briefly, the system as described in my copending application is capableof automatically transferring cigarettes or filter rods at high speedsand over long distances in a continuous unending stream. While such asystem now makes it feasible, for example to link maker units forcigarettes to packaging machines, and maker or supply units for tipsdirectly to attachment machines to eliminate manual operation, thelinking cannot economically be done on a one to one basis of production,because of the variations in rate of production, efiiciency, etc., ofeach of the units, wherein one might produce or use rods at a differentrate from the other.

Also, it will be appreciated that one of the basic advantages of theautomatic transfer system disclosed is that it permits various classesof machinery to be segregated in positions remote from each other, e.g.the manufacture of filter rods is desirably performed quite separatelyfrom the manufacture of filter cigarettes. In such cases, the filter tipattachment machine will stop and start as a result of the exigencies ofmanufacture and the automatic supply of filter rods must follow. This isconveniently achieved by sensing the quantity of filter rods at theattachment, stopping the supply from the remote position when thisquantity exceeds a predetermined amount and starting the supply from theremote position when this quantity is deficient.

Owing to the fact that the supply of filter rods may be from mechanismsituated in a remote position, the numher of rods in transit at anyparticular instant may be considerable. Thus, when the supply unit isstopped in response to a command from the filter tip attachment, all therods in transit will continue to be delivered at the attachment whichhas itself stopped. Thus, it is necessary to provide a reservoir toreceive these surplus filters.

When the filter tip attachment is again started, it immediately consumesfilter rods and although the command to the supply unit will cause it tostart feeding rods into the transfer system, a time lag, dependent uponthe distance involved, must inevitably exist before the arrival of therods at the filter tip attachment. During this period, the surpluspreviously accumulated in the reservoir will be consumed. From this, itwill be clear that such a reservoir acting as a buffer in bothdirections is highly desirable.

Such a new reservoir is required to be able to automatically receive andkeep rods in relative parallel orientation, even though the receipt ofthe rods are at high speed. The new reservoir is also required to feedsuch rods at demand in the same oriented fashion. The reservoir isfurther required to be able to have a variable storage capacity with apredetermined minimum retention and a sufficiently variable capacity tokeep receiving rods from a maker even though the feed from the reservoirhas stopped.

The reservoir for storage and feeding rods, as exemplified in myheretofore mentioned patent, does not meet the requirements set forthabove. Accordingly, it was the prime object of the present invention toprovide a reservoir and storage means overcoming the defects of thepresent structure and satisfying the above requirer Inents. Otherobjects, as well as the utility and advantages of the present inventionwill be obvious from the following description and the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a reservoir, in accordance with thepresent invention, for receiving filter rods, shown in conjunction withthe feed drum of a filter tip attachment of a cigarette machine, and;

FIG. 2 is a sectional end elevation of the same, taken on line 2-2 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view of a modification of the present invention.

With reference to the drawings, there is shown a reservoir R inconjunction with a lower hopper L. The reservoir R is defined by sideand end wall members 10 and a slightly inclined horizontal conveyor Calong its bottom. The conveyor C is formed of two parallel spacedendless bands or belts 12 driven by a pulley 14 mounted on a drive shaft16. Belts 12 are conventionally led over a plurality of idler rollers 18and take-up roller 20 to insure proper tension. The upper runs of belts12, specifically that portion which forms the bottom wall of thereservoir R, is supported by a plate 22 which at its forward end ispivotably mounted on a stud 24 and at its rearward end rests on thevertical adjusting screw 26 conventionally secured to the back wall.

The screw 26 is threaded through a fixed nut 28 and thus enables thetable 22 to be adjustably positioned.

The reservoir is provided with a positive introduction entrance means Elocated at the rearward end of the conveyor C so that rods F suppliedthrough chute A of a pneumatic transfer means of the type shown in mycopending application can be securely introduced therein. The entrancemeans E comprises a roller 32 which is spaced from, but jointly rotatedwith the belt 12 of the conveyor C. The means for rotating the roller 32is conventional and therefore not shown. The roller 32 and belt 12 arespaced from each other a distance approximately equal to the diameter ofthe incoming rod P so that the rod will be positively gripped betweenthem.

The adjustability of the supporting plate 22 has the advantage that thespace between the feed roller 32 and belts 12 may be so varied toaccommodate different diameter rods and for minute adjustment ofpressure upon the rod. The chute A is provided with an angular turnwhich serves the purpose of straightening the rod P and conducting thesame serially in horizontal position to the space between the feedroller 32 and the conveyor. The gripping effect of roller 32 and belt 12has a further advantage of maintaining the rods in orientation.

The rods enter reservoir R and proceed to the forward end of conveyor C.Upon reaching the forward end of the conveyor C, the rods F drop intothe lower hopper L through the relatively restricted opening 0, thelower hopper L comprising an inclined chamber 34 formed by adjustableagitator plate 36 and a spring mounted yieldable top plate 38. Agitatorplate 36 is pivotably mounted at its upper end 40 and is oscillated inthe direction of the dotted arrow in a conventional manner by the arm42. The yieldable top plate 38 is also affixed in a conventional manner,however, it is provided with stop means in the form of a pin 44preventing its complete forward movement. Between the weight of the topplate 38 and its spring mounting suflicient force is exerted on agitatorplate 36 to keep the rod F orientation without damage, in the inclinedchamber 34.

From said inclined chamber 34, the rods F are conducted via a vibratingslanting bottom plate 46 to a pair of counter rotating grooved ortoothed spaced rollers 48. The bottom plate 46 is mounted at one end toa suitable frame structure and the other end is freely resting on anagitating assembly 50 comprising a pair of rollers 52 and 54, one ofwhich, namely, roller 54, having a plurality of flat sides The rollersare driven in a con ventional manner, the result effecting longitudinaloscillation of bottom plate 46 within direction of the double arrow. Thetoothed rollers 48 act as a metering gate permitting only one rod at atime to pass between them thus creating a single file formation of saidrods. The rods F thereafter pass into the curved channel 56 formed by apair of spaced guide plates and fall one-by-one into the spacedhorizontal grooves 58 of the rotating feed drum 60.

The oscillating agitator plate 36 which operates in conjunction with thespring mounted top plate 38 has the advantage of being able to supply asufficient quantity of rods to the rollers 48 without the weight of thebulk of rods in the lower hopper L creating any undesirable pressure inthe region of rollers 48. The agitating bottom plate 46, insurescontinued and free movement of the rods to the metering gate.

The apparatus is furthermore so designed that the belts 12 of theconveyor C and the roller 32 which feed the rods into the upper hopperare driven independently of the fed machine, i.e., tip attachmentmachine so that when, for example, feed roller 60 stops, the rods in thesupply line A will continue to be fed into said hopper. An importantadvantage of the present structure now becomes apparent. The positivefeed at the entrance E to the reservoir R, the continued movement ofconveyor C and the restricted exiting through hopper L, permits thebubbling up of a plurality of layers of oriented parallel rods F in thereservoir R without any back pressure or interference with the operationof source A and feed roller 32. In effect, this raises the level of rodsabove the conveyor level from the bottom up.

desired. Thus, should the attachment unit, i.e., feed drum 60, stop, thelight of the photocell system 62-64 will also be interrupted as thereservoir is filled and the supply from the rod making machine will thenbe stopped. However, the rods enroute or in transit through thepneumatic supply line will, of course, continue to be fed into thereservoir until the line itself is empty. The conveyor C will causethese rods to be stored in reservoir R and the rods so received will beavailable to the attachment machine upon restarting, avoiding the timedelay awaiting the arrival of new rods.

In order to avoid damage to the rods in the reservoir R by the continuedmovement of conveyor C after stoppage of the tip attachment machine, thedrive mechanism for the conveyor C and feed roller 32 may be wired inconjunction with a timer (not shown) in such a manner that they start upinstantly with the cigarette machine but are switched off after apredetermined interval after the tipping machine stops permitting therods in transit to be fed into the reservoir before the whole mechanismcomes to rest.

A second photocell system 6668 is also provided to effect stoppage ofthe tipping machine in case the rod supply should fail and the reservoirR becomes empty.

In some cases, such as the delivery of cigarettes to packaging machines,a multiple delivery system of rods may be desirable in order to avoidexcessive transport and delivery rates. FIG. 3 shows such anarrangement.

It has been found that the angular turn through which the rods pass, asshown at the lower extremity of chute A FIG. 1, may be omitted. Instead,the rods may be delivered directly on to the belt 12, to be pinchedbetween the roller 32 and the belt for positive feeding into thereservoir. Under these circumstances, a :refuser roll '70, FIG. 3,rotating in the direction shown provides assurance that only one layerof rods can pass on to the roller 32. The rod delivery A and refuserroll 70 may be repeated any number of times as shown to provide a highrate of delivery from one or more sources, the refuser roll insuringthat the most recently delivered rod is properly nested between the rodsalready on the belt before delivery to the next stage.

It will thus be apparent that the particular requirements of a reservoirfor use in automatic transfer means is effected by the presentinvention. It is furtherapparent that such a reservoir has numerous usesand embodiments. Accordingly, it will be understood that the presentinvention should not be limited to the specification and foregoingdescriptions.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cigarette manufacturing apparatus having at least one source ofsupply of rod-like articles and transport and delivery means for thesame, a reservoir comprising at least front and rear substantiallyvertical walls, a restrictive entrance opening adjacent said rear wallfor the positive oriented entry of only one rod at a time, and an exitopening spaced from said entrance com municating with means for thereceipt of said articles, and a bottom wall bridging the distancebetween said entrance and said exit comprising a conveyor for carryingand moving said rod from said entrance to said exit, said restrictiveopening, said conveyor and said vertical walls cooperating to stack aplurality of layers of rods within said reservoir on the blocking ofsaid exit.

2. The reservoir according to claim 1 in which the bottom wall comprisesat least one moving belt on to which the articles are delivered by thetransport means and which frictionally introduces the articles into thereservoir.

3. The reservoir according to claim 1 in which the bottom wall comprisesat least one moving belt on to which the articles are delivered by thetransport means, a roller spaced from and cooperating with said movingbelt to grip the articles as they move forwardly to enter the reservoir.

4. The reservoir according to claim 1 in which the bottom wall comprisesat least one moving belt on to which the articles are delivered by thetransport means, a roller spaced from and cooperating with said movingbelt to grip the articles as they move forwardly to enter the reservoirand a refuser roll upstream of the gripping roll also driven incooperation with the moving belt spaced from said belt sufliciently topermit the free passage of a single stream of articles to the grippingroll but preventing any articles in excess of a single stream frompassing.

5. The reservoir according to claim 1 wherein said bottom wall ispivotably mounted at its forward end and vertically adjustable at itsrearward end, and includes means for adjustably inclining said conveyorwith respect to the horizontal.

6. The reservoir according to claim 1 in which the means responsive tothe number of articles in the reservoir provides a signal when apredetermined number of rod-like articles are present in the reservoirwhich signal stops the source of supply and then, after an adjustableinterval of time, stops the moving belt, said interval of time beingchosen to insure the delivery into the reservoir of all articles intransit.

7. The reservoir according to claim 6 in which the means responsive tothe number of articles in the reservoir provides a signal when thenumber of articles present in the reservoir falls below a predeterminednumber, said signal starting the source of supply and the moving beltsimultaneously.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 including a hopper for deliveringsaid rods to a subsequent feeding mechanism and an inclined channelcommunicating with the eXit of said reservoir connecting said reservoirand hopper for the transfer of rods therebetween, said inclined channelbeing formed of a pair of spaced walls,

at least one of which is movably mounted and is provided with means forcausing said walls to tend to converge during transfer of said rods.

9. The reservoir according to claim 8 including means for agitating oneof said walls during movement of said rods.

10. The reservoir according to claim 8 wherein the upper of said spacedwalls is pivotably mounted at its upper end and the lower of said spacedwalls is movably mounted and is provided with means for forcing the sametoward said upper wall during transfer whereby both said walls arecaused to move in reaction to the number of rods being transferred tovary the incline of said channel.

11. The reservoir according to claim 8 wherein said hopper is providedwith a bottom wall inclined with respect to the horizontal to cause saidrods to travel thereon in a generally downward direction, metering meansfor delivering said rods serially from said bottom wall to the feedingmechanism and means for oscillation of said bottom wall in a directionlongitudinal thereto so as to feed said rods to said metering means.

12. The reservoir according to claim 8 wherein said inclined channel islocated at an angle directed rearwardly of said conveyor and whereinsaid hopper has a bottom wall at a diverging angle to that of said conveyor whereby said rods are caused to take a tortuous path to thefeeding mechanism.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,902,186 9/1959Pollmann 221- X ANDRES H. NIELSEN, Primary Examiner.

EDWARD A. SROKA, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A CIGARETTE MANUFACTURING APPARATUS HAVING AT LEAST ONE SOURCE OFSUPPLY OF ROD-LIKE ARTICLES AND TRANSPORT AND DELIVERY MEANS FOR THESAME, A RESERVOIR COMPRISING AT LEAST FRONT AND REAR SUBSTANTIALLYVERTICAL WALLS, A RESTRICTIVE ENTRANCE OPENING ADJACENT SAID REAR WALLFOR THE POSITIVE ORIENTED ENTRY OF ONLY ONE ROD AT A TIME, AND AN EXITOPENING SPACED FROM SAID ENTRANCE COMMUNICATING WITH MEANS FOR THERECEIPT OF SAID ARTICLES, AND A BOTTOM WALL BRIDGING THE DISTANCEBETWEEN SAID ENTRANCE AND SAID EXIT COMPRISING A CONVEYOR FOR CARRYINGAND MOVING SAID ROD FROM SAID ENTRANCE TO SAID EXIT,